Home › Untranslatable Words

Kummerspeck

Meaning: The weight you gain from emotional eating — the extra pounds that accumulate during heartbreak, stress, or sadness.

Language: German

Literally: grief bacon

Category: Everyday

Origin: German Kummer ('grief') + Speck ('bacon / lard').

More untranslatable words — Everyday

  • Verschlimmbessern — To make something worse in a well-intentioned attempt to improve it.
  • Sturmfrei — The liberating feeling of having the house entirely to yourself — when parents or a partn…
  • Utepils — The specific pleasure of sitting outside in the sun and drinking a beer — a ritual that f…
  • Lagom — Not too much, not too little — perfectly moderate, appropriate, and balanced. A cultural…
  • Fika — A ritual pause in the day — coffee, something sweet, good company — that is more about co…
  • Gezellig — The warm, fuzzy feeling of being somewhere cosy and comfortable with people you like — a…

More German untranslatable words

  • Fremdschämen — The vicarious embarrassment you feel for someone who is doing something cringeworthy — ev…
  • Drachenfutter — A peace-offering gift brought home to a partner after staying out too late or doing somet…
  • Waldeinsamkeit — The serene, faintly mystical feeling of being alone in the woods, at peace with nature.
  • Backpfeifengesicht — A face that is just begging to be slapped — someone so smug you can't help the urge.
  • Schadenfreude — The guilty little pleasure of taking satisfaction in someone else's misfortune.
  • Fernweh — An aching longing for far-off places you've never been — the opposite of homesickness.

← Back to Untranslatable Words

Loading the full interactive collection…